"The Southern Grand Duke didn't notice the Church of the God of War's movements at all. By the time he noticed, the Church of the God of War had already established 36 branches of the Holy Army. Large branches had over ten thousand people, small branches had six or seven thousand. This is an army mainly composed of farmers, serfs, and slaves. These people already had intense emotions toward nobles and commoners. After being influenced by the Church of the God of War, they often become even more brutal. Some commoners get slaughtered even after paying the redemption fee. Some minor nobles must join the Holy Army to survive."

Berion obviously had some heavy resentment and spoke without any courtesy. "Now these Church of the God of War Holy Armies have already started plundering great nobles. They found they couldn't resist, so only then did they call to us for help..."

Forming 36 branches of the Holy Army, the largest over ten thousand people, the smallest still six or seven thousand—didn't that mean the Church of the God of War had already gathered over 200,000 troops?!

This number was very terrifying for any country in this era.

How many people were in the massive Teylir Emirates invasion?!

Even though these people were mainly farmers, serfs, and slaves, after plundering so many people and so many nobles, nobody dared underestimate them.

"Dispatch the kingdom's army to go suppress them!" The Dawn General took a deep breath. "Additionally, I suggest urgently recalling Count Lucina Herrick. The area east of Red Leaf Forest in the former Teylir Emirates has been under her management for months. Supposedly both military and civilians now believe in the God of Technology and can no longer possibly be on the same side as the Teylir Emirates. Just dispatch some administrators to go manage it. With her here, the Magic Conductor Legion can unleash sufficient power."

"General, I wonder if you're really recalling Wolf General because of the Church of the God of War's Holy Army, or if you want to take the opportunity to have your Western Grand Duke's subordinate forces occupy the land we bit off from the Teylir Emirates?" Viscount Roster couldn't help but show some mockery.

Count Lucina Herrick was from the northern territory, but the Northern Grand Duke wasn't among this group of seven. The Dawn General was looking at exactly this point, wanting to take a bite of her meat. But he didn't expect that Viscount Roster, also from the Church of Technology, had no intention of giving him face and directly laid everything out in the open.

The Southern Grand Duke's failure to discover the Church of the God of War's Holy Army made him trash. This Dawn General, the previous generation Western Grand Duke still wanting to grab new territory—wasn't that also trash?

The last war was right at his doorstep, and he didn't return either.

What a truly rotten kingdom!

Even with the Church of Technology's influence, the Kingdom of Dawn ultimately hadn't gained new vitality... But wasn't this also an opportunity for rebirth? Viscount Roster seemed to think of something, but was also a bit uncertain, and quickly suppressed this unnecessary thought.

"Oh, Minister Roster, the new territory was originally taken down by our Western Legion assisting the kingdom's border army. We already determined before that this area doesn't belong to any noble. It belongs to the Kingdom of Dawn. Imitating the City-State Alliance system, building lots of cities, each administrator dispatched by the kingdom, all tax revenue belongs to the state—that is, managed by you, the Finance Minister. Count Herrick is only managing it temporarily during wartime. How can you say such things?"

The Dawn General directly started passive-aggressive mode. Roster didn't show any weakness either and directly countered. Both sides knew what the other wanted, but that was exactly what they themselves wanted. The castellan positions of the new territory's city-states, the tax revenue supposedly needing to be turned over—but who knew exactly how much was collected?

The other ministers, as long as their families had some power, were also eager to try, ready to speak up at any moment, also wanting to take a big bite.

"Enough! The Teylir Emirates have wolf-like ambitions and could counterattack at any time. As the person who conquered this territory, Wolf General Count Lucina Herrick understands this area best. She can't be moved lightly for now. For the southern matter, choose someone else." As Hand of the King, when the king wasn't present, Berion was the king. With these words, the two stopped speaking, and so did the others. "We need to choose someone else now to aid the south."

"I suggest the general personally lead the campaign. First, the Teylir Emirates now have Wolf General's Magic Conductor Legion watching them, so the west is temporarily safe. The general can mobilize the Western Legion and nobles together. Second, the Church of the God of War's Holy Army has already exceeded 200,000 people. Such a scale is extremely rare. Other generals may find it difficult to handle." Viscount Roster directly named him. Seeming to worry the general would refuse, he added another sentence. "The Holy Army has accumulated massive wealth and resources. We can use it as incentive to ensure our army can crush them like dry weeds and complete suppression quickly."

However, he still overestimated the general's courage. He had no courage to fight wars! He only had the courage to use war as an excuse to excessively seize the property of small and medium nobles—and that courage was huge!

Gray Fort Empire.

Capital.

Palace.

The Gray Fort Emperor listened to the shadow beside him report and showed a mocking smile on his face. "Even with Magic Conductors, they can't save the Kingdom of Dawn. A mere Church of the God of War actually caused such huge waves over there!"

The Imperial Chancellor listening on the side also heard everything. "Your Majesty, then should we... prepare to gather troops and attack the Kingdom of Dawn?! Over twenty million in the Holy Army composed of farmers, slaves, and serfs—though not enough to bring down the Kingdom of Dawn, it can definitely plunge the Kingdom of Dawn into chaos. This is our opportunity."

"No, don't gather troops. Don't make any moves." The Gray Fort Emperor's smile grew wider. "Now is not the time yet. Just let the Church of the God of War continue wearing down the Kingdom of Dawn internally. When the internal consumption reaches a certain degree, we'll directly wrap things up... Magic Conductor weaponry has definitely made major progress recently. We need to observe first."

"It's just..." The Imperial Chancellor hesitated, then still spoke. "I don't know if it's an illusion, but today on my way to the palace, I passed by the War Cathedral and felt... felt the War Cathedral was somewhat eerie. Are there really no problems? Their recent movements have been truly bizarre."

In a short time, the Church of the God of War dispatched large numbers of missionaries to surrounding countries. Under the pretext of missionary work, they quickly gathered large Holy Armies and plundered massive wealth. Plus the Pope personally came to negotiate cooperation with His Majesty the Emperor, stating they would help the Gray Fort Empire swallow the Kingdom of Dawn. Their only requirement was actually that they become the state religion of the new territory...

If this Pope of the Church of the God of War wasn't actually... His Majesty the Emperor's uncle, the former Imperial Prince, he'd even suspect this was a conspiracy targeting them.

But even so, he felt things were becoming increasingly eerie.

"The Church of the God of War indeed has major changes, but what does that have to do with us?" The Gray Fort Emperor's voice was calm. "This church chaos, I think, can last at least one to three years. When it ends will be when we truly launch our general offensive. We want to obtain the most territory at the smallest cost. The small countries around us already controlled by the Church of the God of War will also become our nutrients."

However, the development of events far exceeded their imagination.

Perhaps the Church of the God of War sensed that under such circumstances, the Gray Fort Empire still wanted to sit on the wall and watch them fight to the death, then reap the benefits. So simply, the Church of the God of War added more fuel to the fire. Before the Kingdom of Dawn's army even arrived at the southern territory, they directly dropped a bombshell!

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